Worn Rails and Guitar Strings
by QuiteTheTrueLove
Summary: Modern Captain Swan AU: Killian is a street musician playing at the same subway station every day. One day he notices the beautiful blonde girl taking the same train every morning, and he starts to sing for her. Only a oneshot!


**Worn Rails and Guitar Strings**

_Slowly counting down the days__**  
**__Till I finally know your name__**  
**__The way your hand feels round my waist__**  
**__The way you laugh, the way your kisses taste__**  
**__I missed you but I haven't met you__**  
**__Oh but I want to__**  
**__How I do_

_To Whom It May Concern - The Civil Wars_

Eight fifteen in the morning, five minutes until her train arrives.

She's standing a couple feet in front of him, at her usual spot between the trash cans and the bench with the graffiti on it.

The station is buzzing with men in suits on their way to their nine to five office jobs and students with heavy backpacks. But she's not paying any attention to them as they brush past her. Her eyes (and he's not sure which color they are) are fixed on a worn paperback in her hands. She's always reading, getting completely lost in the world written on the pages. On her head sits a pair of headphones, and she's swaying ligthly to the music. Sometimes her foot will tap to the beat and he can't keep himself from adjusting his own.

Teenaged girls keep giggling into their hands as they urge each other to approach him, one of them steps forward and throws two dollars into his guitar case, he thanks her with a wink and a smile. She's blushing as she hurries back towards her friends, but it's not her attention he wants, it's hers.

The train arrives, the loud squealing of the brakes drowning him out. He stops for a minute and watches her as she slips through the doors. Then she's gone.

One day she's going to listen to him, one day she's going to see him.

**~CS~**

He's playing one of his favorite songs, the one about missed chances and drunken nights. He loses himself in the music, his fingers deftly strumming the strings like they never did anything else. His foot stomping on the ground, dictating the rhythm. The lyrics leave his lips like a prayer.

A cluster of people has formed around him, smiles on their faces as they listen to him baring his soul. Coins and dollar notes find themselves in his case, and he thanks all of them with a nod of his head.

But she's standing there, with her back to him, always lost in her own little world. Sometimes she turns just so far that he can see her profile. Today she's biting her lip, her eyebrows pulled together as she reads. What would he give to be part of this story, to be in her story.

The song comes to an end, the commuters are applauding and he gives them a small bow. It's nice to know that he's appreciated, but he's not doing it for himself, not anymore.

Now it's all about her.

**~CS~**

She's late, her train is almost here and she'll miss it if she doesn't come in the next four minutes. His eyes search for her, heart beating down the seconds until she arrives. He's not focusing on the music, so he's playing songs that he's played a hundred times before. He could play them in his sleep.

Just as he's finished with his third song, he sees her running down the stairs. Blonde curls bouncing on her shoulders, a deep blush on her cheeks from exertion. She runs past him and stops at her usual spot just in time.

He notices immediately that she's not wearing her headphones, and with a smile he starts to sing.

It takes one minute for her to turn around, their eyes meet over her shoulder. She sees that he caught her watching him and whips her head back around.

The song he's playing is one of the more upbeat ones, he didn't have a lot of reasons to play that song until now.

When he's almost done she starts searching for something in her book bag. A loudspeaker announcement tells everyone that the train is about to enter the station. She looks up at the trails, then (to his delight) back at him. Her hand pulls something out of her bag, and then she is heading right towards him. With her eyes on the ground she places a dollar bill in his guitar case. And as the train arrives she looks up (just for a second) and their eyes collide.

They are green, like the first days of spring. He winks at her, his heart now beating out of time.

The next morning she's standing just a few feet closer to him, the headphones are still slung around her neck, her book stuffed into her bag.

She's listening, he just knows. It's because of the way she's slightly swaying to the beat, her head bobbing up and down, fingertips tapping against the strap of her book bag.

He sings just for her, he sings words about dancing in the rain and living in the moment, words about love.

The train arrives a minute early today, and he wonders if she's just as reluctant to go, as he is to see her leave.

**~CS~**

The weekend had been unbearably long. He always plays at the town square on the weekend, the many tourists and shoppers are a lucrative audience. But he always misses her on those days, and he's counting the hours until Monday.

This time she's early, her train won't arrive for another fifteen minutes. She's walks past him, only to lean against the wall beside him with a shy smile playing on her lips.

A man comes up and asks him if he knows a certain song, he does, and for a couple of dollars he's playing it.

Her smile grows wider as she closes her eyes. After a minute her lips start to move along with his, just barely but he notices. He would notice anything about her.

He's completely enchanted by her.

They fall into a pattern. He's playing his songs, she's leaning against the cold wall. Sometimes she's reading her book. Normally it doesn't take long for her to finish one, every couple of days her eyes are drinking in new words. This one she has been reading for over a week.

The smiles directed at him are more frequent now, but they never say a word to each other. He would give anything to hear her voice, but unlike everyone else she's never talking on her phone.

And her train is always on time.

**~CS~**

He started writing again. He's not ready to perform the songs yet, but for the first time in months he feels like the ground beneath his feet is solid again.

One song is about her, about the girl he's never met, the girl his soul has been missing for such a long time.

It's a Friday when her train is late. She turns around as she's waiting at the platform, everyone else is cursing and staring down the tunnel, everyone instead of her.

A collective sigh of relieve is heard when it arrives. Man and woman bump into her as they push through the doors. She breaks eye contact and follows them, the last thing he saw was the regret in her eyes.

He doesn't even think about it as he grabs his guitar case and runs towards the platform. He manages to stop the doors from closing by wedging the case between them. He slips through, earning a couple of stern glances from the passengers.

At first he doesn't find her, then a tall man moves to the side and reveals her standing with her back to him, hand clutching a bar to her right.

He gathers all his courage, taking a deep breath he steps forward and taps her lightly on the shoulder.

When she turns around his heart threatens to burst out of his chest. Her green eyes grow wide when she recognizes him.

''Hi, I'm Killian.'' He tells her, and when she smiles (the smile brighter than any other), he smiles back. Then he hears her voice.

''I'm Emma, nice to finally meet you.''

* * *

**A/N: I was inspired by the new pics and video of Colin playing his guitar! Musician!Killian might be my favorite thing in the world!**


End file.
